


Leaving No Trace

by Stateofmyhead



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Bob's Burgers - Freeform, Break Up, Cheating, Choose Your Own Character, F/M, Heartbreak, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Infidelity, My First Fanfic, Sad with a Happy Ending, Strong Female Characters, louise belcher - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 09:40:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17363606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stateofmyhead/pseuds/Stateofmyhead
Summary: How Louise Belcher deals with her first real heartbreak.





	Leaving No Trace

_Believing in the lie,_

_that you still loved me._

 

The quietness was what finally broke her. Her apartment seemed to be holding it's breath, waiting for the man who brought so much life to it and Louise. She suffocated under it's need to hear his soft classic country and the jostling of pans streaming into the livingroom from the kitchen whenever he made their dinner. Or his booming laughter that came with their cat's antics as they'd be laying on the couch together; even Kopi never wanted to be left out from the well of affection the man offered.

Her heart was aching in a way Louise never knew she could experience. She responded to the pain just how she would any other time, striking out like a wounded viper. A framed picture of the couple at Wonder Wharf slammed against the wall, the frame cracking apart as the glass rained to the floor. It wasn't enough.

She moved onto the small porcelain polar bear from their trip to the Bog Harbor zoo. It was an agonizing reminder of the first time he'd told her he loved her. They'd been right there in front of Amity two years ago. Every year they made a trip to see the polar bear near that very same date. They would have been planning their visit in only a few short weeks if he hadn't left.

Louise refused to acknowledge the tears that streamed down her face as she systematically moved room to room destroying reminders of him. She used scissors to shred his favorite dress of her's, a scarlett number that gripped her curves like it had been painted on. Their bedding went into a garbage bag along with any of the food he'd left in the fridge. All pictures were smashed, tossed in the garbage, or ripped to shreds. The clothes he left in their laundry?Now nothing but tattered ribbons. Her path of destruction fueled itself by replying their last conversation in a loop in her mind.

*****

  
"Louise, I need to talk to you." She had barely acknowledged him at first, just holding up a finger as she finished watching a video of cooking fails.

"You've gotta see this! There's a dude who burnt his-" She'd looked up from her phone to find him watching her with the most serious expression he'd ever gave her while his arms were crossed over his chest. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this anymore, Louise." He had seemed so devoid of emotion. It was at odds with his vibrant personality. 

"Are you talking about work or school?" She hesitantly asked. His boss, from what she'd been told, was an asshole who micromanaged every little thing his employees did. They had little to no personal freedom and with the same type of self sufficient character as herself Louise knew he didn't like his job.

"I've got enough coming in from waitressing, why don't you just go ahead and quit so you can find something better. I can tide us over." She smiled up at him, hoping that she could help him find work where he'd be happy to go.

"No. Shit." He scrubbed his hand over his face before leveling a glare on her. "Us, Louise. Us! That's what I can't do anymore. I can't keep waiting for us to get better. We're not going to be normal again."

"Wh-what? I don't..." Louise felt like her mind and reality were going two different speeds. She couldn't get a grasp on the situation."I don't get what's going on." His eyeroll had her standing and taking a step away from him. "You're breaking up with me? Because you don't feel normal. Why? What's not normal about us? I thought we were business as usual around here."

"Things haven't been normal in awhile Louise. Not since... well, you know." He was now looking everywhere but at her.Understanding dawned on her and icy anger filled her veins.

"Can't say it, can you?" She spat out. "You think it hasn't been the same since you cheated on me." Louise shook her head. Though she wasn't as upset as she had been when she first found out it still hurt to think that he'd gone out and found some chick in a bar after a particularly bad fight they'd had. He had been a wreck when he'd finally come home. She had been too when she'd first found out, but she bounced back when they sat and talked things out. Had thought that things were starting to feel right again.

"Yes, that." He said quietly showing the first real emotion as he hung his head in shame. He didn't want he breakup to be messy, he wanted it to be as clean as possible.

"I thought we were past that. It's been months. Why now? Why stay with me for so long?" Louise's mind was racing as she fought the urge to try to find faults within herself for what was happening. Logically, she knew it wasn't anything she'd done, she never even looked at other guys and tried her best to always make him happy. But she felt like maybe she should have seen that he wasn't as happy in their relationship. Like she should have seen the signs and done more.

The rose colored glasses she'd apparently been wearing started to slip as she thought over the time since he'd first admitted to being unfaithful. They'd only done their usual date night, driving around to get lost in the countryside before they made their way home late in the night, in weeks. He'd been working more, had to be at school prepping for exams and clinics, or his friends wanted to have a guys only night. She realized then that they'd not even slept together in a few weeks. The realization had her trembling as a new question occured.

"A-are you and her... I mean..." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes against what she was afraid to hear and braced herself for his answer. "You're not still seeing her, right?"

A beat passed. Then another.

"I'm sorry,Louise" His whispered words felt like a blow. Her breath left in a wheezing, pain laced gasp. "I really am sorry. We can still be friends though if you want?"

He looked guilty and uncomfortable when Louise opened tear filled eyes.

"You want to be friends? You're dumping me for some fucking chick you've been cheating on me with, and you want to be friends!" She yelled at him, hating him in the moment for how frail he seemed to think she was. "I don't need your scraps of attention, asshole! I'm worth more than that. I deserve better than that."

Louise was beginning to pace on the opposite side of the couch from him. It was that or unleash her hands on him and though he was lower than dirt for what he'd done she knew better than to give into the urge. She wasn't a volatile nine year old anymore. 

"Just go. Get your crap out of my place, because in case you forgot you're the one who talked me into putting only my name on the lease, and get out. Kopi is staying here too." She stopped pacing long enough to copy his cross armed stance. Inside her heart was breaking, but she was doing her best to shore up her defenses against any other bombs he might drop on her.

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it.  Instead he picked up the duffle bag she hasn't noticed he had and head for the door with Louise following.   Once in the hallway he turned to face her, "Louise, I hope you can forgive me.  I really am sorry about all this. It's just-"

"Shove the forgiveness and apologies up your ass." Louise snapped before slamming the door shut. She couldn't listen to his reasoning or excuses. Sitting back down in her spot on the couch was the only thing she could think to do.

*****

  
Pretty-N-Punk. Louise shook her head as she turned the sink on before pouring the perfume down the drain.  He'd got her it for her birthday, reasoning that she was his pretty little punk. At the time she'd teased him endlessly about it, but she'd worn the perfume every day just because he loved it so much.  He'd catch it whenever he bundled her up in his arms and give her this soft, loving smile and say, "Love you, punk,"  before kissing her. 

"Guess that was a farce." Louise muttered.

Her makeup went next. He'd been the only guy she'd made the effort for to do her makeup in the style he loved nearly every day.  It made her feel like the most beautiful girl when she'd catch him watching her while she put it on.

There were so many things she did with the point behind them being he liked it.  She lost herself in him. 

Louise was about to leave the bathroom when her teary brown eyes caught her reflection in the mirror. She didn't know how she could look so normal on the outside, besides her tears, but feel so disconnected and broken.  Her long black hair was still straight flowing down over her Cat Mom shirt.  He hated the idea of her cutting any of the length off. They'd once got into an argument over it during the summer before, but she'd conceded to him and kept it. 

Moving without thinking about it, Louise opened one of vanity drawers and grabbed out the scissors she kept there. Her hands shook as she grabbed a handful of hair, pulled it taunt, and closed her eyes as she began cutting.  Tears flowed freely while she cut her hair shorter and shorter. There was no doubt she'd have to go to Gretchen to get her hair fixed, but in the moment the act felt liberating.  Louise felt like she was cutting the hold he had on her.

By the time she finally dropped the scissors to sit on the bath edge to cry, her flowing lengthy hair had been transformed into a mix of a bob and a pixie cut.

She let herself cry until she felt something soft brush her leg then heard a cranky meow.  
Louise dropped her hands to look at the emerald eyed black cat who was watching her expectantly.  "I'm sorry, Kopi. I promise I didn't forget it was dinner time. Mama is just having a bit of a breakdown." She told her cat through a watery smile. 

Once she was standing Kopi turned, prancing ahead of her to the kitchen. He wound himself in and out through her legs as Louise got his dinner, his meows sounding like he was trying to claim he was starved. It was a familiar comfort. 

While the feline chowed down Louise surveyed what she'd done to her apartment, feeling an ary of emotions from the obvious sadness to liberated. Her warpath left no trace of him behind. Glass was on the floor mixed in with pictures and other small items, there were bags of items she'd trashed. It would need to be cleaned up, but she figured it would still be there tomorrow.

Tonight she'd cuddle her cat close and let herself wallow in the agony of a heartbreak. Tomorrow would be a different story. She was Linda and Bob Belcher's daughter after all. In her family you bucked up and worked to prove to yourself and to the world that you're more than they think you are.

If she would ever lapse into another pity party, which would happen, in the coming days she knew she had her siblings to count on to bring her out of her funk. Her family would never stop loving her. Louise knew if she looked behind her they would be there to have her back. They were the Belchers' from the womb to the tomb.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed my first fic and if not feel free to leave some constructive criticism. I've not wrote in years so I'm definitely rusty!  
> How do you think Louise would deal with a break up? Who did you imagine as the 'he'? I left it unspecified so all ships could fit, but I definitely wrote this with someone in mind.  
> The song What Sober Couldn't Say by Halestorm may have inspired this.  
>  If there's any positive feedback, or any feedback at all, on this maybe I'll write a follow up.


End file.
